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If all goes according to plan, Purgatory Cove on the Waltham/Newton line will be rid of overgrown vegetation by this summer.

The
state Department of Conservation and Recreation plans to start removing
the vegetation at the cove this coming May, according to Waltham City
Councilor Stephen Rourke. DCR officials will to monitor the cove, which
connects to Auburndale Cove, over the next several years and possibly
perform chemical treatments. Hopefully, the work will open the cove for
boating and fishing again, Rourke said.

An informational meeting
will be held in Waltham tonight at 6:30 p.m. to present the project to
neighborhood residents. The meeting will be held at the Hovey House
Apartments at 315 Crescent St., Waltham. Parking is available on Woerd
Avenue or on the DCR boat launch.

The vegetation has overrun the
cove over the past several years making it unavailable for boating and
fishing, according to Rourke.

“Over the past couple decades ...
it has gotten more and more vegetated to the point now where there is no
open water,” Rourke told Patch. “If you leave nature to run its course,
over time it would become a swamp and eventually a meadow.”

The
water became stagnant over time, partly because a stream that used to
flow from the former Newton landfill on Rumford Avenue was cut off from
the cove, Rourke said.

If chemical treatments are proposed,
Rourke said officials would need to get the proper permits from both
Newton and Waltham before performing any treatments.

The work has
been “a long time coming,” Rourke said. For the past several years,
officials and residents have asked DCR for assistance, even submitting
petitions, according to Rourke. No funding, however, was available,
until now.

Last fall, Step Rep. John Lawn, D-Watertown, toured
the area and agreed to push for funding for the project, which resulted
in the creation of the recent plans, Rourke said.